10 Geek Holidays and How to Celebrate Them

What is it about human nature that makes us create holidays for even the most trivial of reasons? We have Fruitcake Toss Day, where we enshrine our rage at being sent an undesirable “treat” that will outlive mankind. There’s the mildly disturbing International Hug Day which is less cynical than Fruitcake Toss Day, but encourages a kind of behavior that some might find inappropriate. If you type in any given day on the calendar, it is likely that there is some sort of holiday associated with it.

While some might argue that fake holidays are just a way for our corporate overlords to ensure we purchase crap we don’t need that will only serve as landfill content, I’m not quite that cynical. I think the vast majority of silly holidays were created by people of particular interests who wanted to share their obsessions with others. In other words, these are the creations of geekdom. Every geek worthy of the title is familiar with “May the Fourth”. It’s the day where geeks forget that Star Wars premiered on May 25th, 1977 in order to celebrate a pun. “May the Fourth” is only one of a litany of holidays created by geek culture to celebrate our obsessions. Here are 10 more geek holidays, with some recommendations about how best to celebrate them.

1) GM Appreciation Day

In December of 2002, members of the EN World message boards suggested that the role playing game community set aside a day to show appreciation for the people who take the time to run games for others. It was eventually decided that this “holiday” would be called GM Appreciation Day and would be observed on March 4th. Since it’s creation, the holiday has grown to become a major sale day for the online role playing game retailer RPGNow/DriveThruRPG where a number of publishers offer deep discounts for their products. The day came to have greater meaning with the death of Gary Gygax in 2008. What began as an arbitrary date came to have actual significance and provides an opportunity for gamers to thank not only their own GMs, but to thank one of the founders of the hobby.

While you should certainly take advantage of the various sales that take place on GM Appreciation Day to fill in any gaps in your RPG collection, you should also use it as an opportunity to run a game for your GMs. At minimum, you can use the opportunity to firmly commit to actually attending the gaming session on the day. GMs have enough work to do prepping their games week after week for your ungrateful enjoyment; the least you can do is show up on time and ready to play once a year.

What’s that? There’s a new Monte Cook RPG coming out this summer? Nevermind what I said about showing up. How about you get me a copy of The Strange and we’ll call it even?

What are the two most annoying things about September 19th? The first is that it marks the day that the PMRC testified in front of Congress about how rock music should be censored to “protect the children.” The second is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For quite some time, I have been advocating that people should celebrate “Play Like a Pirate Day” rather than participate in “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Who hasn’t been annoyed by co-workers saying, “Aaaargh, Avast, Ye Mateys” a couple times an hour in some half-hearted participation? Even worse are the inconsistent uses of “Yar!” at random moments. It isn’t that a day dedicated to acting out the role of a pirate is lame – what is lame is that these small offerings of participation are lackadaisical at best.

I would gladly champion a day in which workers show up to the office dressed in full “Age of Sail” apparel, blunderbuss and cutlass in hand, while staying in character as much as is possible for the day. It would be amazing fun in the “employees showing up to work in costumes on Halloween” kind of way. You know… like when a person comes to work in their full blown Optimus Prime costume – one where they can actually “transform” from robot to big rig – you are truly impressed with your co-workers commitment. On the other hand, when your other co-worker shows up with only a pair of “cat ears” on and a mild scowl on their face, it’s annoying. Sadly, most participation in International Talk Like a Pirate Day is of the cat ear type, and not the Optimus Prime type.

For all the half-hearted role play, the slackers haven’t made pirates any less cool. Celebrating “Piratitude” is still worth while, but I recommend you celebrate Talk Like A Pirate Day in true geek fashion by playing pirate themed games, reading pirate themed novels, or watching pirate themed films. Unless you are going to go full Jack Sparrow like the folks at Action Events LA …then you can dress up.

3) H.P. Lovecraft’s Birthday

Unlike with other authors, there is no official celebration of Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s birthday on August 20th. This is a shame. Given his massive influence on popular culture, we ought to have a geek celebration around this master of the macabre. The man deserves some thanks, if only as reparation for the unending bad translations of his horror stories into film format. I propose that we celebrate H P Lovecraft Day by celebration the best of those things that his works have inspired.

Every H P Lovecraft Day should be filled with watching the silent version of The Call of Cthulhu, playing The Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu RPGs, reading his fiction aloud, and visiting the venerable halls of Miskatonic (Brown) University’s John Hay library to peruse the special collections. Maybe we can find that first edition of Unaussprechlichen Kulten and drive ourselves mad.

If you are a fan of genre fiction, then you are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe or someone he influenced. With the exception of modern action films, which owe a lot to James Fenimore Cooper, there isn’t a genre that hasn’t seen the influence of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. His Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket influenced Hermann Melville’s Moby Dick, H P Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, C L Moore’s “Dust of the Gods,” Jules Verne’s An Antarctic Mystery, Roy and Dann Thomas’s Young All-Stars comic book series, and Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of Poe’s influence on pop culture, and not even one of Poe’s more interesting legacies.

One of the most interesting of these legacies is a tradition that lasted for approximately 75 years, but ended abruptly in 2009. I am referring to the annual commemoration of Poe’s life by the mysterious Poe Toaster. According the the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore:

Beginning in 1949 (or possible somewhat earlier), on the night of the anniversary of Poe’s birth (as January 18th becomes January 19th), a mysterious stranger has entered this cemetery and left as tribute a partial bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe’s grave.

This strange and beautiful annual tradition last occurred in January of 2009 and appears to sadly seems have ended forever. A number of “Faux Toasters” have tried to take up the mantle of the Poe Toaster, but the end of the official practice has led to a geek schism as to whether these neophytes should be allowed to restart a tradition that has potentially served its purpose. As magical as I think it would have been to witness the original Toaster or as interesting as it would be to see a new one, I think that it is time for this tradition to transcend the realm of secret spectacle and move into the houses of Poe fans everywhere. This January 18th to 19th, let us all raise a glass of cognac to a man who inspired so many different genres and without whom we geeks would have much less to enjoy.

On April 5, 2063, the planet Earth was visited by an alien race called the Vulcans who had tracked the warp signature of an Earth ship called the Phoenix. While the Vulcans had a policy of non-intervention in developing worlds, a policy they would pass on to the United Federation of Planets, once a world had developed warp capability the policy shifted to one of engagement. Each year members of the UFP celebrate the Day of First Contact by eating pierogis, which were Zefram Cochrane’s (the inventor of the Phoenix’s warp drive) favorite food.

Modern-day fans of Star Trek can celebrate the day with games, readings, viewings, conventions, and treat the day as a countdown to a future occurrence. Star Trek fans have long been one of the most devoted fan groups and many communities feature STARFLEET chapters which are great places to make friends and do volunteer work in your local city. Casual fans can observe the day by watching their favorite Star Trek episodes.

For me, that means pulling out my DVD boxed set and queuing up “A Piece of the Action.” I know some might find it heretical to have such a silly episode as a favorite, but to me “A Piece of the Action” has all the elements that make the Original Series so good. It touches on the consequences of violating the Prime Directive by demonstrating the real life and death results that can occur, it contains wonderful humorous moments between Kirk and Spock, and it was written by Gene L Coon. Besides, I think it’s about time to figure out how to play Fizzbin.

6) Serenity Day/Unification Day/Can’t Stop the Serenity Day?

If one is going to write about Star Trek in a list that includes passionate geek communities, it is almost a mandated style guide rule that a discussion of Browncoats be included. While the fans of Joss Whedon’s SF Western are a passionate bunch, there doesn’t seem to be much consensus regarding when to celebrate the series. Some fans use the date of Unification Day as a time to watch the show, promote fandom, and share their enjoyment of the series with friends and family. The problem with that is that there is no certainty regarding the actual date of Unification Day. Some observe it on September 20th, as that aligns with the day the show first aired in 2002. A problem with that logic, however, is that while Firefly first aired on September 20th, the episode that aired that day (“The Train Job”) is the second episode chronologically. Additionally, there are those place the date of Unification sometime in May or June.

On June 23rd, 2006, two Firefly related fan events were launched. The first was an informal attempt to get Browncoats to purchase Firefly related DVDs in order to convince Hollywood producers that there was money to be made in the production of additional Firefly fare. The second, and more interesting fan event was “Can’t Stop the Serenity” which began annual screenings and events dedicated to raising money for charity. Several “Can’t Stop the Serenity” events are planned in the coming weeks as June 23rd approaches and the money raised will be used to support Equality Now!

Given that the time roughly coincides with the dates of the Battle of Serenity Valley, I’d recommend that you observe your Firefly fandom with a “Can’t Stop the Serenity” screening or convention. That seems the Browncoat thing to do. Somehow celebrating Unification Day seems a little too pro-Alliance for my tastes.

Gamers have been celebrating the creation of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game for years in weekly/monthly gaming sessions and by attending annual gaming conventions, but until recently no one has known what day to use for official commemoration of D&D. That all changed on December 15th of 2013, when Playing at the World author Jon Peterson argued that the “official” 40th birthday for the Dungeons & Dragons game was January 26th, 2014. Based on Jon’s recommendation, a number of key D&D communities observed D&D‘s birthday this past January. These included Kobold Press who have been hired to write adventures for the upcoming 5th edition of D&D, Geekdad, The Escapist, and Board Game Geek.

I would argue that support for the January 26th birthday of D&D was so strong that it will continue as an annual tradition with blog carnivals, game sessions, and possibly even an official Hasbro sponsored event. Given the support that Hasbro showed for January as the time to celebrate D&D‘s 40th, and the fact that Winter Fantasy often took place in January, that the likelihood of having an official annual birthday bash is not outside the realm of possibility.

I know, I know, this makes three authors being celebrated in one post, but trust me when I say that without these authors geek culture would be vastly different. While Howard is most famous as the creator of Conan, he wrote in a variety of genres that included Westerns, Historical Fiction, Horror, Sword & Sorcery, Boxing Tales, Detective Stories, and “Spicy” tales. Howard was an amazingly prolific writer. If you are a writer yourself and you want to feel intimidated, take a glance at this list of story titles. In a career that lasted twelve years, Howard wrote well over one hundred stories for the pulps.

What I’ve always found remarkable about Howard’s writing was how compelling a storyteller he was. Let’s take Howard’s most famous character Conan as an example. The basic premise of a barbarian wandering around the world fighting fights and wenching wenches is one that lends itself to some pretty bad fiction. In fact, the number of miserable Conan pastiches that have been written is nigh-uncountable, and includes talented authors like L. Sprague DeCamp and Robert Jordan as well as talented editors like Lin Carter. Not one of these individuals managed to write a Conan-esque story worth reading, but Robert Howard did. His story Phoenix on the Swordis rich with detail and has a sprinkling of aesthetic theory thrown in for good measure. Robert Howard was a yarn spinner with a touch of word-smith, and rarely described thews as bulging.

Every June since 1986, die hard REH fans come from around the world to celebrate Howard Days. This event takes place in Howard’s home town of Cross Plains, TX. Howard Days are a strange event where fans don’t merely get together to read stories, watch movies, and attend panels. They also tour the small town of Cross Plains and tour the house where Howard lived, have stamps canceled at the post office he used, and have choreographed boxing matches behind a building he used to hone his pugilistic skills. It’s a unique event, and one that demonstrates almost everything that is beautiful about fandom.

9) Hobbit Day

While Howard Days contain almost everything that is beautiful about fandom, there is one thing they lack. What they lack is an arcane discussion about how the days fall on June x and y, but only on the Hyborean calendar which needs to be updated to the Gregorian calendar thus making Howard Days fall on June z and aa. Hobbit Day has this discussion. In Lord of the Rings it is revealed that Frodo and Bilbo Baggins both celebrate their birthday on September 22…Shire Reckoning. This small detail, which adds a bit of verisimilitude to Tolkien’s mythopoeia, provides a natural date for honoring Tolkien’s masterpiece. Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday is a major affair in the books, and modeling this party as one celebrates Lord of the Rings seems perfectly natural. The only problem is figuring out when September 22nd Shire Reckoning is in the Gregorian Calendar. According to Boris Shapiro, this would be September 14th.

The best way to recognize Hobbit Day is to schedule the annual Tolkien Marathon of your choice for the day (either literary or film), eat second breakfast, walk around barefoot, and do other idle activities you imagine that a hobbit would do. One thing you must certainly avoid is adventure of any kind. While adventure is fine for oddities like Bilbo and Frodo, everyone knows that a good hobbit stays at home and enjoys a relaxing time with family and friends…just so long as the family isn’t those damn Sackville-Baggins’s.

The San Jose Mercury News may not think that real geeks celebrate Geek Pride Day, but this real geek certainly will. I’ll admit that like the subjects in the Mercury News article, I hadn’t heard of Geek Pride Day until I began doing research for a possible article discussing Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day’s Tabletop Day (which might make the list next year), but once I read about the day I decided that it would become an annual tradition in my household.

The concept of having a Geek Pride Day originated in Spain and worked its way through the series of tubes filled with cats dropped from dumptrucks that is the Internets to become an event that is celebrated worldwide…or at least should be. May 25th is a day that connects with a number of geek obsessions. It is the day that Star Wars was released in theaters in 1977, it’s Towel Day for fans of Douglas Adams, and it’s the anniversary of the Glorious Revolution of the 25th of May in Discworld. It also marks the opening of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore and Mike Myers’ birthday.

***

All of these holidays, with the exception of Howard Days which requires you to travel to Cross Plains, can be celebrated in the same ways:

a) Get a group of friends together.

b) Get a bunch of snacks.

c) Arrange for a big meal.

d) Watch a movie, read a story aloud, or play a game related to the day.

e) Have fun.

And that short list of ways to celebrate explains why every day of the calendar has something associated with it to celebrate. It’s always a good time to get together with friends and hang out sharing the things we enjoy. Oh…and I forgot something from the list.

Send a tweet shout out to @wilw with hashtag #GeekingOut

Because nothing says you are a geek like seeking public acknowledgement from your peers.